Blogs from Gisborne, East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

The ozone at Rere Falls helped dispel last night's grogginess due to overindulgence in wine. The falls are about 60 kilometres north of Gisborne and a popular place for local people to picnic. A family was there with their relative from the USA, a laid back man who was impressed with how clean and pretty the place was. "If this was the States, it'd be covered in trash," he told Matt (my husband who I was travelling with) and I. A wood pigeon perched in a large tree; the falls splashed into a brown river that ran into a grassy distance; the sun was warm and pleasant. Ahhhhh. We drove on to Napier where we would stay for two weeks with Matt's family, to celebrate Xmas and New Year. Sadly, his lovely mother, Anne, would not ... read more

Hi guys, finally managed to get to the internet (and lost it again for two days as the library closed for the day grrrrh). We spent nearly a week in a place called Gisborne which is on the east side of North Island. It was very sunny and we had the best sunsets. I will post a picture of one! We did some sightseeing in Gisborne, went to the Botanic Garden and read lots about Cooks landing and the first encounter with Maori people. On Friday, we decided to go and visit a local club, to be exact a RSA club where we had to be signed in and were allowed to listen to live music and play darts, snooker with the locals. We even got some plums from an old toothless man :) who claimed ... read more

Hi thereall-----------first time so still learning so will keep news short it raining at present and going to be the same for next 3 days and is getting cold.We have been travelling Australia for last 2 years but at present home in Gisborne.Have a happy day,Jeff... read more

We gave this name to the blog because its Maori translation, Whakatane, is the name of a place that we passed through on our 3-day trip to the east coast. The name arises from an 800-yr old tale in which a young woman did the man’s work of steering a huge Maori canoe to shore, thereby saving everyone from great peril at sea... (N) At the start of the month, I had a company conference on nearby Waiheke Island for a couple of days. It was a mix of work and play, including a treasure hunt by car one afternoon, which was as cheesy as it sounds. We were split into teams and had to carry out odd or just generally compromising tasks, such as building a raft, getting photographed on a nudist beach and persuading ... read more

A little update of what we have been up to in NZ. Stu, Simon, Steve(Simons dad) and Wayne (Sys friend from work) went on a 3 day/2night hike around Tongariro National Park (Whakapapa Village, Ski area for the North Island), they said the hike was excellant but challanging at times, poor Stus feet proved this, they were covered all over the bottom and heels of both feet, they stayed in huts which had a basic kitchen area and a long drop loo. Bonnie and I had a hard few days we had Pedicures and facials!! We have been to the local beach several times and played beach cricket, water skiing/biscuits on Kerepero Lake with Carl and Vanessa, which was good fun. Stu and I hired a car for a week and travelled the East Cape and ... read more

We are starting to get excited, as we start to count down to our departure and getting all the preparations in place. Starting to write lists, gathering useful things together and reading about our planned travels in more detail. The next couple of months are going to be very busy with our work, and other committments all demanding lots of our attention. So the time will go fast, and I think there will be a huge sigh of relief when we first hop on the plane. I have just looked at what we will need to do to get our call committments sorted out. Likely we will have to be on call for most of the weekdays of three weeks to make up for our time away. ... read more

This is the wildest place I've ever been, except Iceland maybe. The road goes round the coast, in the middle are mountains full of nothing. There are a few scattered villages round the coast, and a few shops, but no phone reception and no internet, no petrol just beautiful beaches with pounding surf and piles of driftwood - huge trees washed down the rivers to the beach. We took the 22km long, mostly unsealed, road along right beside the sea to visit the most easterly lighthouse in the world. Because of wind during the night, the surf was spraying up across the road, and the mist was low on the hills. Such atmosphere, I'll remember that day. Here are a few pictures from the drive round the cape. We have spent today in Gisborne, a lovely ... read more

Weds 9th Jan: Changes buses again today as Chris and I are heading to the East Cape. we drove along through many coastal villages and beaches along the very scenic Highway 35 to Maraehako Bay retreat, the most amazing seafront accomodation. After checking in we went for a walk along the rocks and onto the beach to take a few photos. We were having a group meal so we all contributed and enjoyed dinner with a few drinks. We sat around a huge fire for the remainder of our evening. Our driver, Jason, got out his guitar and provided our entertainment for the evening. Most people crashed around 2300 but Lou and I stayed up chatting to some others who'd joined us by the fire. Made it to bed around 0100 and have an early start, ... read more

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history